Cool Image of the Day – Silicon Microchip Under High Power Micrograph

This is the surface of a silicon microchip under a high power scanning electron micrograph (SEM). In the image you can see the pipes the data/electrical current travels through in 3 a dimensional space, much different than the flat reflective surface that visible to our eyes without a microscope.

This type of microscope produces images of a sample by scanning it with a focused beam of electrons. The electrons interact with atoms in the sample, producing various signals that can be detected and that contain information about the sample’s surface topography and composition. The color was added to the image of the scan based on the colors found inside a standard microchip.